New Features Added to Free e-Sourcing Site, WhyAbe.com

Nov. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- Source One Management Services, LLC, (http://www.sourceoneinc.com) who develops and maintains the web’s only completely free professional e-sourcing platform, announced new features to help assist procurement professionals in their e-sourcing events.

WhyAbe.com (http://www.whyabe.com) has built a communication system directly into individual RFP and Reverse Auction events.  With this system, buyers are able to log in to any event they have created and email a message to their entire invited supplier base, or to individually selected suppliers.  All records of email communications are stored indefinitely with the event in order to help maintain record keeping and accountability.  

Editing active and saved events has become significantly easier.  WhyAbe.com has incorporated a “WYSIWYG” (what you see is what you get) editor into the dashboard.  Now, buyers do not need to know or understand HTML formatting in order to edit and customize their RFX events.  The on-screen editor program supports formatting through familiar menu and navigation bars.

A new document uploader has also been added to the buyer’s toolset which allows users to create their RFX event with greater speed and improved system feedback.  Now, when a buyer creates or edits an event, multiple attachments can be uploaded in one easy step.  By simply holding Ctrl or Shift on the keyboard and clicking the mouse, multiple documents found in the same folder can be quickly attached to your event.  WhyAbe has also added visual feedback for end users which indicates the progress of these document uploads.

Recently, the most frequently requested enhancement to WhyAbe was to enable buyers to revoke (remove) bid(s) submitted by suppliers.  WhyAbe is pleased to announce that buyers now have the capability to remove bids from a supplier during a live event.  Once a buyer removes a bid in a reverse auction, suppliers will see their bidding rank or current lowest bid screens refreshed with the proper information before the removed bid was placed.  In order to maintain proper record keeping and regulatory compliance, buyers must enter a reason for removing the bid.  All removed bids are stored within the event and event bidding history indefinitely.

In addition to the e-sourcing enhancements, WhyAbe.com has also improved the navigation and dashboard for its contract repository system.  Users of the contract repository can now quickly sort their contracts based on pre-established criteria such as, contract amount, expiration date, and contract number.  The process of adding new contracts, suppliers, and reviewers has also been streamlined through an improved navigation system.

Procurement Service Provider, Source One, is committed to continually improving and updating the WhyAbe.com platform and series of tools.  New features and enhancements are developed based entirely on user requests.  Stay tuned in early 2010 for another series of further developments.

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About WhyAbe.com

WhyAbe.com is in its fourth year of operation as the web’s only completely free on-demand e-sourcing website and collaborative marketplace. WhyAbe.com can be used by any organization in any industry. Hundreds of businesses ranging from one-person startups to Fortune 500 corporations have already begun using the WhyAbe.com technologies. WhyAbe provides tools to connect buyers and suppliers. Buyers are able to conduct and manage RFX and Reverse Auctions, search and identify new suppliers, and store copies of their contracts so that they never miss an expiration date again. Suppliers can spread their reach with a free inclusion in the supplier directory, gain free sales leads, and market their products or services through free online stores. Registration and use of the site is free for both buyers and suppliers. Source One also offers private label versions of its tools for a low monthly cost.